Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday. The company traded as high as $71.17 and last traded at $71.39, with a volume of 19,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.34.

Essent Group News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Essent Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Essent authorized a new $500 million share repurchase plan, which could support per-share results and return capital to shareholders. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share. Essent outlines premiums and share repurchase plan Essent declares dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Third-quarter revenue was $374.2 million, above analysts’ roughly $344.2 million estimate. EPS also rose year over year, to $1.82 from $1.67. Essent posts better-than-expected sales
• Positive Sentiment: Essent outlined approximately $320 million in 2026 property-and-casualty written premiums, pointing to activity beyond its core mortgage insurance business. Essent outlines 2026 premiums
• Negative Sentiment: EPS of $1.82 missed consensus estimates of $1.85–$1.88. The modest shortfall may have overshadowed the revenue beat and year-over-year earnings growth. Essent lags Q3 earnings estimates

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America downgraded Essent Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $78.00 to $68.00 in a report on Friday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Essent Group from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Essent Group from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Essent Group from $74.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Essent Group from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.75.

Essent Group Trading Down 7.6%

The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $65.58 and a 200-day moving average of $63.09.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $374.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $344.17 million. Essent Group had a return on equity of 11.91% and a net margin of 51.45%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Essent Group Ltd. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 10th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 1st will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 1st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 2,500 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.70, for a total transaction of $174,250.00. Following the sale, the director owned 30,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,101,733.80. The trade was a 7.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Roy Kasmar sold 4,837 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.71, for a total value of $332,350.27. Following the transaction, the director owned 21,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,467,714.31. This represents a 18.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 69,663 shares of company stock worth $4,866,555 over the last three months. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Essent Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allworth Financial LP bought a new position in shares of Essent Group in the second quarter worth $31,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Essent Group during the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Essent Group by 790.6% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Essent Group in the second quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in Essent Group by 82.3% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. 93.00% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Essent Group

Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE: ESNT) is a Bermuda-based holding company that provides private mortgage insurance and related risk-management services in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company helps protect mortgage lenders and investors against losses when borrowers default on residential mortgage loans.

Its principal business is mortgage insurance for low-down-payment conventional residential mortgages, enabling qualified borrowers to obtain home financing with less than a 20% down payment.